The Imo State National and State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal has dismissed Ikenga Ugochinyere, a member of the House of Representatives.
Ugochinyere ran for office as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP.
The tribunal ordered a supplementary election in the state within 90 days after ruling that Ugochinyere was unable to run in the Ideato North/South Federal Constituency election.
Ugochinyere was declared the election winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, with 13, 026 votes.
Obi Chigozie of the Labour Party, LP, finished second with 5,696 votes, while Abazu Benson of the All Progressives Congress finished third with 2,368 votes.
Benson, an APC candidate, petitioned the tribunal for redress with the petition EPT/IM/HR/10/2023.
INEC, Ugochinyere, PDP, Labour Party candidate Obi Paschal Chigozie and his party, the LP, were mentioned as the first to fifth respondents.
In the petition, the APC candidate contended that Ugochinyere was not qualified to contest in the election and that any votes credited to him were invalid.
The APC candidate argued the court that, in violation of the Electoral Act 2022, the PDP held its primary poll at a location outside the constituency.
The three-member panel of the tribunal, which held its sessions in Nasarawa State, unanimously decided on Sunday that Ugochinyere was not lawfully nominated by the PDP to fight the election.
In his decision, the panel’s chairman, Justice Anthony Akpovi, particularly asked the electoral umpire to hold the supplemental poll within 90 days.
The panel also stated that the PDP and its candidate should be barred from participating in the additional election.
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